The Local Effects of Medical Cannabis

The Local Effects of Medical Cannabis

Disproving the Myth that Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries Attract and Cause Violent Crime

Storefront of Divinity Tree Wellness Cooperative, another San Francisco dispensary recently closed

Photo by John Schulze

OVERVIEW

San Francisco Violent Crime Shifts 2003-

2011 and Dispensaries

Legend

Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries $

N On Nov. 6, 2012 Massachusetts ap-

proved Question 3, becoming the 18th state to legalize cannabis for medical use. Although the measure passed with a significant ma-

jority of 63%, multiple towns have

already banned dispensaries from

opening within their communities.

Cities such as Wakefield and Read-

ing instituted these bans, arguing

$

that medical cannabis facilities are

likely to draw crime. Fortunately,

evidence from states with long-

term medical cannabis industries

can illustrate whether or not these

claims are based in reality.

Relative Change in Violent Crime

Value

Extreme 9Increase 8in Assaults 7-

To achieve the simplified map of increases and decreases in violent crime, I created two boolean rasters. The values/locations of increases in violent crime were converted into one boolean

I combined the analysis of bus stops and parks so that locations near bus stops would get better scores so that the dispensaries are more convient for bus-us-

6-

raster, represented in blue and the val- ers and locations closer to parks

5-

ues/locations of decreases in violent would get lower scores so that cannabis

$$

$$

$$

4-

crime were converted into a boolean use was further from children playing.

3-

raster represented in orange. Like the Additionally, all locations within 1,000

2-

first map, the uncolored values repre- ft. of a school were deemed unsuitable.

$

$$ $$

$$ $ $$

$

$$ $

$

1-

No 0 Change 1

2 3 4

sent no change in violent crime.

This combination of factors produced ratings of the best locations for dispen-

Suitability Analysis of Best Locations for Cannabis Dispensaries in Somerville

5

The first state with medical canna-

6

bis, California introduced the Compassionate Use Act Prop. 215 in

$ $

7

Extreme

8

Decrease

Legend

1996. Since then, hundreds of cannabis dispensaries have opened up across the state, mostly in the Los

9 in Assaults

Suitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs Business Districts

Angeles and San Jose areas.

$$

Parks

0 0.2 0.4

0.8 Miles

The purpose of this project is to as-

sess the relationship between medical

cannabis cooperatives in San Francis-

co and their effect on violent crime near-

by. Despite being a city of the state, San Francisco is home to relatively few can- Greater Bay Area, California nabis dispensaries, with only around 25

0 0.75 1.5

3 Miles

Eastern Massachusetts

currently operating. This makes it easier to illustrate and analyze trends relating to violent crime around the clubs.

Simplified Boolean Raster Results

N

Viewing this data can assist the Massachusetts population in how it decides to regulate and facilitate the introduction of medical cannabis collectives. Hopefully places like Wakefield and Reading will reevaluate their cannabis bans.

METHODS

After adding data of all crime report locations from 2003 and 2011, I narrowed down the crime types to only represent

assaults. I then created point density raster layers of the assault loca-

N

tions, and I reclassified the distribu-

tion of densities so that I would be

able to subtract the densities of 2011

from 2003 on the same scale. This

way, a location with a low density

of assaults in 2011 Copyright: ?2012 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ

subtracted from a

higher density in

2003 would result

in a high value in

the final raster, a

decrease in violent

crime, and vice-

versa.

The Vapor Room was forced to switch to an delivery-

Outside a Medical Cannabis doctor's office in Venice Beach, only service after receiving a letter from U.S. Attorney

California - Photo by Phillip Cowell

Melinda Haag - Photo by Tony Fischer

Legend

$ Current Medical Cannabis Dispensaries

Increase in Violent Crime

No Change

Decrease in Violent Crime

After increases and decreases in

assault densities were mapped, I

added the locations of current can-

$$

N$ $

nabis dispensaries in San Fran- Copyright: ?2012 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ 0ci5sc1o0 to c20omp3l0ete t4h0e analysis.

Miles

$

$ $$

$$ $$ $$ $ $$

For the Somerville suitability map, I first narrowed down the

$

$$ $

zoning areas to only the busi-

ness districts. Next, I mapped

$

the locations of schools,

parks, and bus stops in and

$

around Somerville so

$

that I could figure out

where the commuity

would be most likely to

$$

approve a dispensary.

I then created layers of

Euclidean distance for

all of these features.

0 0.75 1.5

3 Miles To finish the analysis,

saries and the worst, and I created a boolean raster to only highlight the best locations with the highest scores. This generated the final, suitable locations.

CONCLUSION

From the data and analysis on this project, it is safe to conclude that medical cannabis dispensaries do not cause or attract an increase in violent crime. Comparing the results of over twenty clubs in different parts of the city, ranging from some that opened up over ten years ago to others that have opened in the last couple years, it can also be inferred that violent crime does not significantly change despite how long the

dispensary has been there.

In fact, most collectives are located in places where violent crime decreased. However, it is difficult to assess whether this trend is statistically significant, because of the various counterexamples located in no-change and increased violent crime areas.

For the suitability analysis of Somerville, there are multiple areas that would be fit for a medical cannabis dispensary. In fact, there are prime locations across the city, some in the central business district and others farther out.

How the Suitable Areas were Evaluated

Legend

Bus Stops

Suitable Areas for Medical Cannabis Clubs

Schools

School 1,000 ft. Buffer Buffer for Parks

100 ft. 200 ft. 400 ft. > 400 ft.

0 0.2 0.4

0.8 Miles

N

Clearly, the evidence of the last fifteen

years of medical cannabis in California

should dismiss the concerns of Mas-

sachusetts' residents that dispensaries

draw violent crime. That being said, this

study did not evaluate the correlation

between dispensaries and other types

of crime. However, if Massachusetts'

towns are worried about businesses in

their neighborhoods causing crime, it

would be most beneficial to start with

the places that do cause violent crime

like liquor stores.

Cartography and Analysis by Max Cohen

Tufts GIS, Intro to GIS

12/19/12

Projected Coordinate Systems

San Francisco: NAD 1983 StatePlane California III

Somerville: NAD 1983 Stateplane Massachusetts Mainland

Data Sources: MASSGis San Francisco Dept. of Public Health data.

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